'Ring finish

Posted by Nick Trott at 5:20PM on Sunday 25 May, 2008 2 Comments

'Ring Porsche Forgive me for being thoroughly partisan for a moment but, well, yippeee! Aston Martin has scored a 1-2-3 in the SP8 class at the Nurburgring in pretty much standard, road legal V8 Vantages.

They've beaten a Dodge Viper and a Lamborghini Gallardo (among others) and having been in the middle of it for the past 24-hours I can tell you that the atmosphere here is crackling.

Overall victory has gone to the Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, with two other Porkers nailing 2nd and 3rd. Friend of Top Gear, and 'Ring taxi driver Sabine Schmitz, was part of the team who finished third. Top work, fast lady.

The new Sciroccos have won the tough SPT3 class, winning their crucial battle with the Opel Astras. They look awesome too.

I've just wandered down the pitlane to ogle the battle-damaged racers. Rolled tyre rubber, stones and bits of carbon fibre line the pitroad like tide detritus, while weary mechanics draw on fags and talk about what might have been.

The Aston Martin DBRS squad are one of those teams asking the 'what if?' question at the moment. While the V8 boys are celebrating their victory, the DBRS9 team are ruing a back marker who lost control last night and damaged the Aston's rear suspension.

The car was a pig to drive afterwards, and lost its top 3 pace. Another accident in the morning didn't help things either; 150th position was no reward for the effort put in by the Aston boys.

Still, the party is just getting started so I'll sign off. I've got tons of shots from the weekend - look out for a Nurburgring 24-hour gallery next week on Topgear.com.